New here. Looking for fellow chronic pain MFP members.

DancinYogi87

Hi all. New here. I'm Julia. I'm 30, married for 10 years, no kids. I have a full time desk job; so, I'm not as active as I should be. Though, I do make sure to work out every morning Monday thru Friday.

I love Yoga, Dance, and Kickboxing. I also like weights, but only lift heavy when following Chalean Xtreme.

The roadblock I face is chronic pain. I suffer from Occipital Neuralgia. With this, I have daily pain in my upper neck and back of head. I also deal with muscle spasms in my neck, traps, and upper back. I am seeing a specialist, but it's going to be a long tiresome road for me.

Thanks to this pain, I've stopped taking as good of care of myself as I should be. I was at 135lbs, but am now around 145. Not a bad weight, I know, but I have way more fat on my body than I would like.

My goal is to get back under 140, and lose some body fat. I also want to keep up my fitness level despite needing to lower the intensity. Any suggestions are welcome!

My current plan is to stick with low intensity workouts that will not aggravate the pain. I really need to focus on my diet. I take in too much chocolate and other processed foods; don't eat enough veggies and fruits; and I need to work on drinking enough water each day.

I would love to make some new friends here, especially any that suffer from chronic pain, or any that have similar interests to mine. Feel free to add me!

L1zardQueen

Oooh gosh. I had tendinitis in my neck at one. The pain was grueling, I feel you. Gentle hug.

Try an ever so slight calorie deficit and maybe add in some walking. I bought a swim snorkel so I could swim without turning my head. Swimming really helped me feel better.

As for your diet, what do you like to eat? Diet is all personal preference. Have you ever tried roasting vegetables? You may eat more of them.

DancinYogi87

Thank you for your response! I should start swimming. I have to drive 20-30 minutes for a pool, but I miss swimming, so the drive would be worth it. Maybe my traps, upper back, and neck muscles wouldn't flare up so much with swimming.

Diet- I'm not too picky.. more like I'm lazy. My husband and I are working on getting veggies in with each supper, and also with eating more chicken fish, rather than hamburger. I do roast asparagus and green beans, but haven't tried any others.